Bidding my U.S. readers a Happy Thanksgiving! And to the rest of you, blessings on you just because! I’m taking off today to care for my home (such a nicer way to put it than “clean the house”) and begin kitchen prep. Then four days of cooking, eating and…being. A little slowing down and being with. Myself and others.

Anne will have a fuller plate this visit!

Last year was the first time in my life I spent Thanksgiving on my own. As somewhat sad as it was to anticipate that, once the day arrived, it was actually rather enchanting. I cooked myself a feast and spent time on the phone with several dear friends over the course of the day. That said, I’m happy to be spending Thanksgiving with a beloved friend this year — in fact, one of my (many) sisters.

Yes, friends, I grew up an only child, yet I have sisters and brothers of various kinds. How can that be? When you put together being adopted (by a woman who had a 12-year-old son), with divorce and re-marriage (thus, two step-sibs) and then adoption reunion with biological parents (who each had had other children), you get a veritable potpourri of family!

My biological father had left a marriage and a young son when he met my biological mother. I met that young son — my half-brother Mike — when we were in our 30s. I also met his wife Anne. We stayed in good touch over the years when I was raising children. Although Anne and Mike divorced a few years ago, I have remained very close with both of them…and it is Anne — technically my ex-sister-in-law?? — who is coming up to my mountain cottage tomorrow.

Just hangin’ with Anne Lamott!

I am wildly blessed with amazing family, and many fiercely loyal, dear friends…and for that I am so very thankful. I have also had the unique experience of navigating three years of living solitude, which has etched my blessings into bolder relief. I hope you’re with someone you love this holiday — even if that person is “just” yourself.

I’ll close by sharing a blessing our daughter Eve learned in kindergarten. It is perfectly suited to the function of a blessing as explained by Anne Lamott in her new book Help, Thanks, Wow: The Three Essential Prayers. As we say a blessing before we eat, Lamotte writes, “For a minute, our stations are tuned to a broader, richer radius. We’re acknowledging that this food didn’t just magically appear: Someone grew it, ground it, bought it, baked it; wow.”

Before the flour the mill,
before the mill the grain,
before the grain,
the sun, the earth, the rain:
the beauty of God’s will.